September 15, 2006

Fixed

I think that it is amazing that God brings the right passages of scripture into our lives at just the right time. The verses that have been the most applicable to my current situations have been the exact same verses that I have found in my daily Bible readings. The verse quoted above is one of those verses.

I decided back in January that I wasn't going to sign on for another year of teaching. This might be news for some of you who only keep up to date through this blog. I did not make this decision lightly. I had surrounded it with prayer and wise and varied counsel.

Of course this decision left me facing in the direction of the unknown, (not my favorite direction to face) but I was sure that God was going to open some unforeseen door. Until that happened, I did know that I had a way to provide for my family, which was my primary concern and one of the motives for leaving education to begin with. I knew that I could be a truck driver as long as I needed to be, but I also knew that I wouldn't be doing that permanently, so the path before me seemed so clouded.

There have been times in my life when the path set before me seemed bright and cleared. That, of course, never lasted, but it at least seemed that way. But now I was facing a course where I couldn't even see a few feet in front of me.

I don't know about you, but when things get like that, I occasionally have a day or two of freak-out. I get this panicked feeling, and I want to get everything fixed as fast as I can. Sometimes that leads to un-thought-out decision making, and with me it almost led to a job that would not have been the right thing at all. Fortunately, God opened my eyes enough to see that before I signed on the dotted line (literally).

Shortly after that, I read this verse. Now I know, both by truth that has been taught to me and also by my own personal experience, that I absolutely need to remain fixed in God's Word. But when I read this, it dawned on me that fixing my footsteps in God's word isn't just some metaphorical phrase to be quoted to ourselves when we are feeling directionless. NO, it is the essence of practicality. God's word clearly lays out how we are to live.

The Bible is not a big quotation book for positive thinking. It is a living powerful book that has all that we need for life and godliness. And for me to "fix my footsteps" in it means that I will, by faith, do what the Bible says, trusting that God knows what He is talking about.

So, that is what I am doing.

I am walking down a path, with God's word as a lamp and a light, showing me exactly what the next step is that I need to take. I hope to remain fixed in His word by reading and studying daily, and by praying for His grace to be sufficient.